Atomistic models of ultrafast processes driven by light and current

In the past decade it has been discovered that it is possible to switch a magnetic material by light alone. The COMRAD project is a new European consortium bringing together world leading experimental and theoretical groups to understand the fundamental interactions in magnetic materials that causes this effect. The aim of this PhD project is to develop novel approaches to atomistic spin models, removing the phenomenological damping constant, based on simulation of the electronic heat bath. This will require advanced models of the s-d exchange interaction parameterised by ab-initio calculations. The project will implement a phonon/electron/spin interaction model with application to the understanding of ultrafast reversal induced by combinations of laser/current pulses. This will provide new insights into the fundamental properties of materials that could enable a new field of ultrafast magnetic devices and technologies.